Sitting before you is a glistening gourmet hotdog covered in tomatoes, onions, and homemade pickle relish with a frothy root beer float. Next to all that is a plate of southern cuisine’s finest fried chicken with green beans, macaroni and cheese, and a slice of flakey apple pie.
Which entrée would you pick?
Maybe it depends on the mood you’re in, but I can honestly say that I would ALWAYS pick the fried chicken with sides and apple pie. I don’t even think it’s a southern thing. I think it’s a fried-chicken-and-apple-pie-are-delicious thing.
But some of the other guys here at the office pointed out something kind of odd: this business, Frank, sells hotdogs; this business, Alcenia’s, sells southern cuisine. As delicious as fried chicken is, though, Frank sells considerably more food every year. I have a hard time believing hotdogs could actually outsell fried chicken and apple pie, so I looked into the matter.
I think I found an answer: advertising.
No surprise there, right? We’re an advertising agency so of course we’re going to toot our profession’s horn. But go look at those two businesses websites. Alcenia’s has a nice website. It’s clean and easy to navigate. I can see some of the food. I can see the menu and the restaurant. Looking at the site makes me want to go eat there. I’d say that’s a successful website.
Then I look at the website for Frank. It’s also clean, shows pictures of food and the restaurant. Things look quite similar. But wait—is that a photo gallery with pictures, not just of food? Is that a blog, and it’s been updated within the last couple weeks? Did I just see an espresso with the cream designed like a leaf?
It’s hard to look at Frank’s site and not get excited. I mean, their brand is obvious and consistent, even to the point of spelling hotline as “hauteline.” Their photos are beautiful and show so much life. That place looks like it’d be fun to eat at.
They have a blog! And they update it.
I’m crying tears of joy at the beauty of such a simple brand that’s been executed so well. It’s no wonder this place sells so many hotdogs. They understand the importance of developing an image and screaming at the world, “Hey, you should come check us out!”
And I understand, maybe Frank has a nice budget for advertising. Those pictures are clearly professionally taken and probably not cheap. But those aren’t what really grabbed my attention. I’ll say it a third time: they have a blog and keep it updated. And if you notice, it’s just a basic, free Blogspot blog. That’s free advertising, if you’re willing to just put in a few minutes every week.
I don’t think advertising has to be big budget to be successful, but I do think it needs to be pervasive, consistent and, when necessary, loud.
Whether it’s hotdogs or fried chicken, if you want people to notice, try shouting.
By the way, we don’t work with either of these businesses. We intentionally used examples that have nothing to do with Harvest. Big props to the design firm that did the Frank work….good looking stuff.
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